


fluted melody

by AlexSeanchai



Series: Daughter of the Sun [6]
Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Gender Changes, Gen, Podfic Welcome
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-21
Updated: 2019-08-21
Packaged: 2020-09-23 15:09:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,305
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20342158
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AlexSeanchai/pseuds/AlexSeanchai
Summary: "And I amnevergoing to learnflute!" Final volley delivered, Yuuki turned on her heel and stormed upstairs."That means Yuuki-san can't do it and is embarrassed to admit it," Jounouchi confided loudly.Kaito raised his eyebrows at the '-san'. Hadn't the young man been calling her 'Yuuki-chan'?The footsteps on the stairs stopped dead.





	fluted melody

**Author's Note:**

> Drafted 2014.

"Just give up, Dad!" Yuuki yelled, a few tears flying from her eyes. "I am not your perfect daughter and I never will be!"

How could she bear, Kaito wondered, to say such things in front of her friend?

"And I am _never_ going to learn _flute_!" Final volley delivered, Yuuki turned on her heel and stormed upstairs.

"That means Yuuki-san can't do it and is embarrassed to admit it," Jounouchi confided loudly.

Kaito raised his eyebrows at the '-san'. Hadn't the young man been calling her 'Yuuki-chan'?

The footsteps on the stairs stopped dead.

"Do we even _own_ a flute?" Yuuki asked herself, barely audible. Why would she say such a thing—had she already discarded the flute Kaito had given her the previous day?

Jounouchi grinned at Kaito. "Just gotta know how to play her."

Yuuki reappeared. "People who annoy me tend to disappear under mysterious circumstances," she informed them, wiping a tear track off her cheek. "Manipulating me annoys me."

Jounouchi rolled his eyes. "Get out your deck. I can take you."

Yuuki raised her eyebrows.

Kaito glanced between the two of them. "Are you two finally dating?"

"What?" exclaimed Jounouchi. "No! We're just friends!"

Yuuki just laughed. "He's hung up on Kujaku Mai," she told Kaito.

Jounouchi spluttered. "I am not! Don't you have a flute to play?"

Yuuki smiled. "Do you care to guess the favored instrument of the Egyptian pharaohs?"

"What do Egyptian pharaohs have to do with you becoming a proper woman?" Kaito wondered, while Jounouchi gawked.

"Nothing whatsoever," said Yuuki, and headed back upstairs.

"Is this a sign that you're planning on giving up your childish games?" Kaito called after her.

"Maybe when I'm bored of them," Yuuki called back down. "In ten thousand years or so."

Jounouchi burst out laughing. "That's my Yuuki-san!"

"I love how he thinks I can't hear him," floated down the stairs. A door closed.

* * *

"Anzu, do you remember what I told you in Starbucks the day we met Step Johnny?" Yuuki asked her friend.

Anzu blinked. "Of course."

Yuuki held up a hand, first and middle fingertips not quite touching. "I am this close." To what, she didn't say; apparently fathers were not permitted to know. "I am _this close_, and the instrument in my possession is the _wrong instrument_."

"I think I'm missing part of the conversation," said Anzu.

Yuuki glanced at Kaito, then turned back to Anzu. "The flute I was given upon his—" She nodded at Kaito. "—return from America plays like this." She held her hands up and to the side, as was proper for playing the Western flute he'd given her, or the ryuuteki that Yuuki owned. Or had owned. "The flute I am thinking of plays like this." She held her hands up and in front, as was proper for playing a shakuhachi.

Frustrating child.

"What does that—" Anzu began, then stopped. "Oh. _Oh_. I'm not sure whether to celebrate or commiserate."

Yuuki lowered her hands. "There is as yet no reason to celebrate. It probably means nothing, anyway. It is just music."

"It's just a game," Anzu said pointedly.

Yuuki blinked twice. "Yes. Well."

Apparently satisfied that her point was made, Anzu smiled. "You know, a shakuhachi might work. I don't know for sure, though. It might be tuned to the wrong scale for what you're thinking of."

Yuuki eyed the arm of the sofa for a long moment, her expression first bemused then clear, then looked back at Anzu and nodded. "I doubt I'll know until I try. Who knows: it may even be a dance tune."

Anzu perked up. "Dance tune?"

"If you want to dance to my playing," Yuuki said dryly, "perhaps I should find two sticks to clack together. That I am certain I remember how to do."

_You're not making any sense!_ Kaito wanted to exclaim. Nothing about his daughter made sense. To name a single if complex example: the sudden about-face on the subject of learning a feminine art, and her confusion on the subject of which flute was appropriate for a young lady to play—

But there were young women learning the shakuhachi. Perhaps this was an effort to meet Kaito halfway.

Perhaps he should meet her there.

"I can get you a shakuhachi," Kaito said, hurriedly, before he could change his mind.

Yuuki said nothing for a minute, then turned to face him. "Am I right that you're thinking that the shakuhachi is unsuitable for a young lady such as myself?" she said, voice even.

"The wise tree bends with the wind," said Kaito. "You said you would never learn flute. Now you think flute is important, as long as it is the right flute. I do not understand this change of heart but I am not going to argue."

Yuuki bowed, formal. "Then I would be honored to accept such a gift."

* * *

"—but I cannot seem to get the fingering right," Yuuki told them.

"You would have more time to practice if you spent less playing games," observed Kaito. "You're far too old for such things anyway."

Yuuki put down her chopsticks. "Have you ever been lonely?"

"—What?"

"It's a simple question," said Yuuki. "Have you ever been lonely?"

How could Yuuki not know—

"He tells me every day he's away of how lonely he is without us," Hitomi said finally.

Yuuki looked over and said nothing, then looked back at Kaito. "Has there ever once in your life been a time when you knew there was no one you could count on?"

Had he never told her this? "Yes."

—Had she expected that answer? "How did you survive?" 

"By reading books." It had never mattered if no one wanted to talk to Kaito; no one ever published a book they wished to remain unread.

Yuuki nodded. "Now imagine if someone had told you to put away your books, because books are for children." A pause. "I played games."

"I don't understand," said Kaito.

"Of course you don't," said Yuuki, voice even. "You're thinking, how could my little Yuuki know what it's like to be all alone. She's always had her mother and her grandfather. You're thinking, why is Yuuki clinging so desperately to childish toys and childish ways. She's so close to being an adult. You might even be thinking you shouldn't have let your father have any part in raising your daughter. Growing up in a game store has obviously skewed her sense of what is truly important in life."

The store door chimed.

Yuuki shoved herself away from the table. "Excuse me." Kaito watched her as she vanished into the storefront.

"Sometimes," said Hitomi, "I wonder what we did wrong."

"I should have been home more often," said Kaito.

"I don't think that would have helped," said Sugoroku. "What child thinks of a parent or grandparent as a friend?"

"So she got through having no friends by playing games?" asked Kaito.

"And she made friends by playing games," said Sugoroku.

"And right now," Hitomi said, "she feels like you're trying to take all that away from her."

From the storefront came Yuuki's shout: "I am _not upset_!"

"I should go—" Kaito began, beginning to rise, but sat back down at Hitomi's glare: "—stay right here and not make it worse?"

Hitomi said, "Wise man."

Yuuki reappeared, Anzu behind her. "Anzu and I are going to the arcade," Yuuki said flatly. "I will be back sometime tonight. If any dire emergencies occur, or if Jounouchi or Honda or Miho comes looking for me, Anzu has her cell phone."

"Young lady—" began Kaito.

Yuuki interrupted, "I am not asking permission."

"Kaito, don't argue," said Sugoroku.

"Usually when she disappears she doesn't tell us anything," Hitomi added. "This time she is. Take the win."

Kaito looked back at Yuuki, but she and Anzu were gone.


End file.
